COLOGNE.- The forthcoming Art Cologne presents a strong range of international and national participants with 95 of the 176 galleries, more than half, coming from abroad. Art Cologne, which has been lightly streamlined in all exhibition areas, is clearly committed to a focus on quality and a clear structure for both exhibitors and visitors. The 2019 edition of the art fair will be presented on two hall levels. The Neumarkt sector, which presents young and up-and-coming galleries, will be integrated into the contemporary section of the Galleries sector with established galleries on hall level 11.2. The modern and postwar art sections will once again be exhibited on the lower level (hall 11.1).

Collaborations will complement the presentations on both levels: in the modern and postwar art section, Collaborations will illuminate cooperations with historic components, while in the contemporary sector Collaborations gathers current positions and cooperative works. With this new concept Art Cologne will become more approachable and easier for visitors to explore. And not least, the participating galleries will profit from this.

Many prominent galleries are participating in the contemporary section. In addition to international greats such as David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, Thaddaeus Ropac, White Cube, Pearl Lam and nächst St. Stephan, leading German galleries such as Sprüth Magers, Michael Werner, Karsten Greve, Gisela Capitain, Daniel Buchholz, Eigen + Art, Nagel Draxler, Neu and the König Galerie will be exhibiting. New participants or returnees are Contemporary Fine Arts (Berlin), Continua (San Gimignano/ Beijing/ Les Moulins/ Havana), Massimo di Carlo (Milan/ London/ Hong Kong), Daniel Templon (Paris/ Brussels), Nathalie Obadia (Brussels/ Paris), Roslyn Oxley9 (Paddington/ Sydney) and Forsblom (Stockholm/ Helsinki).

The Neumarkt sector presents the following young galleries: Nir Altman (Munich), Arcadia Missa (London), Emalin (London), Essex Street (New York), High Art (Paris), Jan Kaps (Cologne), Marc LeBlanc (Chicago), Martinetz (Cologne), Max Mayer (Düsseldorf), MX (Malcolm X) Gallery (New York), Tobias Naehring (Leipzig), Deborah Schamoni (Munich) and Rob Tufnell (Cologne/ London).

The Collaborations in the Contemporary Art sector shows exciting and in some cases international cooperations between galleries and artists. Among others, Guido W. Baudach (Berlin) + Blank Projects (Cape Town) is presenting six artists from South Africa and Germany. Esther Schipper (Berlin) + Drei (Cologne) are showing a one-woman show of the American artist Julia Scher. Soy Capitán (Berlin) + Tanja Wagner (Berlin) also focus on six female artists. There will be a total of 14 different Collaborations in the sector for contemporary art alone.

The sectors for modern and postwar art will also be represented by leading galleries. Among these are, for example, well-known suppliers of abstract and geometric art, including Lahumière and Edition & Galerie Hoffmann.

One returning gallery is Bernheimer (Lucerne), which joins the ranks of exceptional photo galleries in this sector. These also include, for example, Johannes Faber (Vienna) and Julian Sander (Cologne).

The list of established traders who specialise in modern and postwar painting and sculpture includes, for example, von Henze & Ketterer (Wichtrach/ Bern/ Riehen), Thomas Salis Art & Design (Salzburg) and Thomas (Munich). In 2019, this spectrum is complemented by Galerie Philippe David (Zurich).

The galleries represented in the modern and postwar art sector include, among others, Larkin Erdmann (Zurich), Gebr. Lehmann (Dresden), Knoell (Basel), Kleindienst (Leipzig) and Hubert Winter (Vienna).

Kleindienst is showing the Leipzig painter Arno Rink (1940-2017), who passed away last year and who became a pioneer of the New Leipzig School through his teaching activities. Hubert Winter presents two protagonists of feminist conceptual art: the Austrian Birgit Jürgensen (1949-2003) and the Turkish-French artist Nil Yalter (*1938), who will also have an exhibition in Museum Ludwig dedicated to her in 2019 ("Exile is hard work", as of March).